


Working together, bonding forever

by SparkyFrootloops



Category: Iron Giant (1999)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Theyre bonding yo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-12 23:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21484744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkyFrootloops/pseuds/SparkyFrootloops
Summary: Hogarth and Dean work on a school project together.
Relationships: Hogarth Hughes & Dean McCoppin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Working together, bonding forever

**Author's Note:**

> This was my submission for the very cool and very free zine Souls Don't Die, you can download
> 
> [ here](https://chatnchew.itch.io/the-iron-giant-fanzine)
> 
> !

Hogarth treads as quietly as he can, purposely in the softest pair of socks he owns so he can slide soundlessly across the house’s ancient floorboards. He has a mission, all his years of training have led him to this moment, he just needs to go a few...more...steps…

The lights flash on and Hogarth freezes in place for a moment before turning to see Dean dressed in his signature red housecoat leaning against the kitchen door frame, hand still raised casually where he flicked the light on. 

Hogarth spins, hiding his hands behind his back even though they’re empty, a nervous and guilty habit. “Dean! My man! What is up-pah?” He pops the p, keeping his voice low so as not to wake his mother as well. He shoots a couple of finger guns after a second to play up his casualness. Oh yeah, he’s totally convincing.

Dean just stares at him, a silent question.

“Ok, fine, you caught me red handed.” Hogarth raises his hands in surrender and sighs, defeated. “I was going for a late night snack run, happy?”

Dean just raises an eyebrow, looking slowly to the bread box where he knows Hogarth keeps his snacks, back to where Hogarth is. He’s standing over by the sink, very clearly having passed the bread box. Dean waits, because apparently a few years into living with Hogarth and his mom has made him a spy or dad or something. 

"Ok, fine, I was going for the espresso, but it's because I  _ need _ it!"

Dean holds his hands up, placating. "Hey, you know my style, but your mom is sleeping and I'm  _ pretty sure _ neither of us want her waking up when you go off the rails on caffeine."

"Who, me?" Hogarth scoffs, "I'll be  _ super _ quiet, so quiet it'll be like I'm not even here. 'Cause I won't be. I'll be outside."

Now, Dean is new to this whole parenting thing. Therefore he is no expert by any means. But, even still, he knows enough about the gig to know that letting a high schooler outside in the middle of the night is probably the biggest  _ no-no _ he can do. He glances to the clock to confirm that it is, in fact, well past midnight. Theoretically that should mean having little spunky teenagers in bed. 

"That's a hard 'no' from me, kiddo. What do you need the espresso for anyway? Or going out so late - early - whatever you wanna call it."

Hogarth sighs, deflated. He'd tried the sneaky route, now is the time for the cold hard truth. "It's this project. It's due soon and I  _ completely  _ forgot about it until now. I have a general idea on what I wanna do but I didn't want mom to know that I left it till this late to complete." Hogarth shrugs, "She's always on me about punctuality but it really did just… slip my mind."

Dean nods, because he knows that Hogarth can get stuck into a track of thought and ignore anything else. He could get so focused on one thing that nothing else existed for that slice of time. Dean could understand, when he got in the groove he too would lose time just to do the thing he was focused on. 

"Alright, how 'bout this." Dean comes into the kitchen and pulls down the coffee and a packet of cocoa. "We drink some of this, and then I'll help you with your project. How does that sound?"

"You want to help me? With school?" Hogarth hadn't given much thought to how Dean would have been academically, but he struck Hogarth more as the rowdy bad kid type than the studious type.

Dean shrugs, "I'm not saying I'll be much help with the school side, but I can at least keep you awake, right? Come on, tell me what you had in mind."

(~)

It's a physics project, something that Dean knows  _ technically _ next to nothing, but also still a little something. By which he means that he knows applicable things like two objects cannot occupy the same space, and similar common sense things. Anything more than that and he’s lost.

"You understand all this?" Dean lets out a low whistle when he looks at the notebook Hogarth is showing him with his calculations and planning for his project. Last minute work, but still very detailed with math double checked to complete accuracy. 

"Yeah, it's not that bad." Hogarth shrugs as he tries to look casual while yanking on a piece of metal. It's way too big for him though, so Dean goes to help before the kid gives himself a hernia, glad he’d decided to change so he wouldn’t get his favorite housecoat dirty. Hogarth’s original plan was to build his project out of cardboard boxes and paper towel tubes and whatever else he could find, but Dean had offered to drive them to his scrapyard to get the materials they needed and use his studio to put everything together. Already, there’s a pile by Dean’s truck of the pieces of metal that Hogarth had deemed worthy of his project, but still Hogarth needed just a few more. 

Hogarth went back to sifting through the scrap, keeping up the idle chatter with Dean following close behind as he went. "I mean. You gotta memorize the formulas, but after that it's just plugging stuff in. Half the time the questions on tests give you all of it in a handbasket."

Dean wanted to point out that none of the things he'd seen in the notebook were given, all were calculated. And to memorize all those formulas, Dean didn't have the brain space for it. "You gotta stop selling yourself short. This is amazing, Hogarth. You have a knack for it."

Hogarth opens his mouth to protest but Dean holds up a hand to stop him, "This isn't something you can get through by ' _ just doing the stupid homework _ ', this takes work. Own it."

Hogarth goes quiet as he and Dean manage to pry the next piece of metal loose and tug it carefully onto the pile they'd collected by the truck. He’s always been a little insecure about his own worth, but Dean always encouraged him whenever the opportunity. Now, just as in times past, Hogarth found himself feeling like maybe he believed it. Just a little, but the doubt was slowly but surely being extinguished. He appraises what they have to hide the blush and nods approvingly. "I think this should be enough. We can always come back for more, right?"

Dean shakes his head, "No, nope, I'm drawing the line at two trips. It's already early for the  _ one  _ trip."

Hogarth grins sheepishly, looks around for a moment, then as nonchalantly as a teenager who's been caught can, kicks another piece of metal into the pile. Dean rolls his eyes but doesn't comment on it when they load the haul into his truck. They make the short trip back to his workshop and drag out the metal pieces in quick order. It isn’t especially hard work, but even with the weather being a little chilly, the strain of muscles has them both sticky with sweat before long.

With all the materials laid out, Hogarth digs out his notebook with his sketches and calculations and begins to separate the scraps into pieces he thinks he can use whole and which need to be cut to size or shaped into what he needs. Pipes and sheets and tubes of junk organize into the path that Hogarth has chosen. Most of the bigger pieces will be put into place as the support system underneath the structure, but for now they sit in a pile to the side.

Dean picks up the notebook and studies the piles for a moment. “Alright, so this is gonna be some serious welding we’re doing here. You remember what I showed you?”

Hogarth nods. Hogarth still thought there were cooler things than arts and crafts, but he had to admit that playing with fire to create things was pretty cool. The best part had to be spending time with Dean, getting to know him beyond what he’d already come to know.

Their bond, already strong because of the trials they’d faced together, had been tempered through the long hours in the studio. Hogarth had learned a lot in that time, more than he thought he would. He knows he won’t forget this time he spends with his new step dad, nor the things he learns, in a million years.

Hogarth and Dean prepare themselves for the welding, donning their gear and arranging the metal into place with Hogarth’s sketches as their guide. When it’s finished, it’ll be a Rube Goldberg machine that will put any other project to shame. For now it’s a pile of junk, but that’s the best thing about works in progress: they transform even the trashiest of trash into something wonderful.

They work for hours, testing and retesting to make sure that everything falls exactly where it’s supposed to. By the end, Hogarth can barely keep his eyes open and Dean sends him to sit in the truck with the windows open to let the cool night air filter through. Dean puts the finishing touches onto the project and looks proudly at the work they accomplished. 

He finds himself looking back at the source of all that pride, Hogarth sleeping soundly in the passenger side. Dean can’t help but smile when he notices that Hogarth is using Dean’s housecoat that he’d left in the truck in case it got cold. Hogarth worked so hard on this project, not wanting to leave until Dean had pointed out it wasn’t the safest idea to be nodding off with a welding torch in his hands.

Dean feels incredibly proud; proud to have met such a great young man, proud to have helped him, as late as he is to the party and in whatever small way, become who he is today. Most of all, though, Dean is proud that he chose to become a part of his family, claim the kid as his own in all the ways that mattered.

With heart filled to the brim with warmth, Dean loads the project they’d worked so hard on into the back of the truck, ready to take it and Hogarth back to their home.

  
  



End file.
